adjective- Of or in the continental United States.
- Alaska Of or in the 48 contiguous states of the United States.
adverb Informal - To, toward, or in the continental United States.
- Alaska To, toward, or in the 48 contiguous states of the United States.
Regional Note: Especially since World War II, the adverb
stateside has commonly been used by Americans traveling abroad to mean “to, toward, or in the United States.” During the postwar period the term gained currency among Alaskans, familiar with the feeling of being far removed from the rest of the continental United States. They adopted
stateside into their vocabularies as a way of referring to their fellow Americans to the south. Russell Tabbert of the University of Alaska observes that
stateside “has some currency primarily as a noun modifier, but also as an adverbial,” as in this instance:
“Most of the owners live in Anchorage; some 14% live stateside” (Alaska Magazine). It may or may not be capitalized.
Stateside, the lower states, the South, and (
the)
Outside are all used in Alaska to denote “the 48 contiguous states.” All these terms, however, are losing out to
the Lower 48, which, as Tabbert points out, is always written in Alaska with a capital L and with Arabic numerals.